Graveward

Summary

An ominous, spindly flower often associated with death and the Forsaken. The stem and root structure is a brown, sticky-looking growth that bulges out of the ground obscenely. Its flowering bulb is wrapped in a visage of dryness reminiscent of skin or leather, hinting at a skull in some form.   Bizarre in nature and peculiar in how it is found, the graveward shows up all over Veltrona with alarming consistency. As the name implies, it is often found at the sites of unmarked graves, burials, or other ditches the dead are thrown into and forgotten. Its more regularly found alongside unburied bodies, slowly growing around (or out of) them. Such improper disregard is what helps give rise to Forsaken, and so the flower is associated with them and places of defilement. Its frankly heinous odor doesn't help at all, which it emits when in bloom. There is corpse rot and then there is the stench of a graveward, and the hungriest of predators will vomit before passing it by.   The blooming flower itself, however, is a beautifully silver-like 'umbrella' of petals. Unfurling, the barest hint of mana makes it glow eerily, casting off illusionary wisps of sparkling smoke. The sickly yellow, tar-like nectar in its cup is the source of the stench, something that all sorts of carnivorous insects love to eat. However, the graveward's nectar is too sticky for them to leave once they land, and when its 'full', it closes up again. So it is, the flower itself devours them with slowly secreting juices. Rather than aim to spread itself through pollen or other conventional ideas, it continues to grow its roots and expand until other plants invariably kill it.   While it is not hard to find, cultivating a graveward is usually the realm of the necromancers or alchemists. The graveward can only be found in disturbed, if not dangerous, areas, and it has particular wants and needs. Also, without special containment for its stench, one will be saturated in it and become a problem for everyone else. Only those with money and time to spare really bother with it, and it hasn't really brought out any exceptionally useful alchemical properties. However, it is an interesting form of pest control, particularly in jungles like Etzli Cuauhtla and Jerhegn. Special lineages of gravewards can be found cultivated in Kubuadac, kept in neat recesses that capture the stench but let them lure in problematic insects.   While its associations to death and evil are self-evident, there are also others. As a protective flower, the graveward is believed to try and defend the unburied dead, stopping two of the major problems their bodies would encounter. Thankless in this task, its evocative of self-sacrifice, virtue, and nobility. Some have gone further and say different kinds of spirits help give rise to the flower. By doing so, they are trying to quell the restless, vengeful dead from returning. In the end, it is not something found outside of its narrow niche in life, but it looms ominously in the minds of many. For, why exactly is it such a consistent flower that grows near the dead, no matter the distance? How does it even form in the first place? No one can really say, but it is always there, eventually.